Advancing Medicine through Clinical Research (continued)

By Camille Webb

Growth at Medical School

Clinical research activities at the Medical School have been perpetuated primarily through the University Clinical Research Center and the Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine. Both programs are administered by the Medical School and receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The UCRC is one of 80 centers in the country to be designated as an NIH-funded General Clinical Research Center. Funded since 1986, the UCRC achieved a renewal of its grant this year to the tune of $9.4 million. The grant's funding allows the center to maintain its status as a center of excellence for clinical research through 2011.

Through an alliance with Memorial Hermann Hospital, the UCRC was able to move into expanded new quarters in the hospital's Robertson Pavilion in August this year.

"The unit includes ample space for a variety of inpatient- and outpatient-based studies and ancillary support services that could not have become a reality without our close relationship and financial support from Memorial Hermann Hospital," Dr. Okhuysen says.

The Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine was established in 1998, and its purpose is to increase the public's healthy years of life by promoting clinical research of the highest quality and by advancing the application of this research in preventing suffering, disability, and premature death.

The center has expanded in recent years to include 17 faculty members who help train the next generation of clinical investigators through educational programs that include a Clinical Research Curriculum, an Intensive Mentorship Program, and a Master's Degree Program in Clinical Research.

"With the increasing effort devoted to patient care and teaching and the increasing demands on faculty, all medical schools find it difficult to build and maintain a strong clinical research program. I think the UT Medical School has done an outstanding job," says Dr. Tyson, who also holds the Michelle Bain Distinguished Professorship in Medicine and Public Health.

More than 200 fellows and junior faculty have successfully completed coursework through the Clinical Research Curriculum.

For those seeking advanced training beyond the Clinical Research Curriculum, the Master's Degree Program in Clinical Research is offered to train clinical investigators in designing and conducting patient-oriented research of exemplary quality. This program was initiated in 2002 and ordinarily requires three years to complete.

"We now have more than 30 participants and will have at least 11 graduates by the end of the fall," Dr. Tyson says, adding that the participants in this program have received numerous grants, including 17 career development awards.